The All-Ukrainian Veterans’ Competition “Strong Spirits Games” took place at the Bukovel tourist complex with full financial and organizational support from the resort. The event was organized by the Ukrainian Strongman Federation in cooperation with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The tournament gathered 220 veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The winners joined the National Team, which will represent Ukraine at the international “Strong Spirits Games – 2025.”
In the season’s final, participants competed in individual events across all nine adaptive sports disciplines they had trained in this year: bench press (60 kg, 100 kg, and maximum for men; 30 kg and 50 kg for women), rowing on the “Concept-2” ergometer over 100 meters and 100 seconds, airbike, and kettlebell snatch and press with 16 kg and 24 kg weights.
According to one of the organizers, Member of Parliament and Honorary President of the Ukrainian Strongman Federation Vasyl Virastyuk, the main goal is to strengthen patriotic spirit in society by engaging as many veterans, servicemen, law enforcement officers who sustained injuries, and their families as possible in sports.
In turn, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and an honorary guest of the competition, stated that protecting veterans’ rights is under increased oversight.
The main media partner of the event was the “1+1 media” holding, together with UNIAN news agency and the 2+2 TV channel. The general partner of the 2025 competition season is the Bukovel resort.
In addition, the tourist complex reported that, on Bukovel’s initiative, more than 24,000 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already been able to rest with their families and recover after combat for free. The recovery program for military personnel is being implemented by Bukovel in partnership with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.